The Kansas City Chiefs got a massive scare last weekend when Patrick Mahomes went down with an ankle injury in their 21-7 win over the Cleveland Browns. He was unable to finish the game, with backup Carson Wentz subbing in for the final five or so minutes. However, the injury isn’t as serious as originally believed, and all signs are pointing to the three-time Super Bowl MVP suiting up again this week. Chase Daniel, for one, thinks the Chiefs are making the right choice in letting Mahomes go out there.
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While debating the issue on the FS1 show The Facility, Daniel spoke from a place of experience. He spent 14 years in the league as a career backup and even played for the Chiefs from 2013-2015. As was surely the case for him a few times across his NFL tenure, Daniel believes watching the backup play is the last thing K.C. wants to do. He went so far as to say they’d take a 50 percent Mahomes over Wentz.
“I was a career backup, I played for 14 years, some of those years I was the best backup in the league… No team wanted to see me go in that game. They didn’t wanna see what I had. That’s just being honest. So the Chiefs do not want to see what Carson Wentz has. They want Mahomes to play, they’d take a 50 percent Patrick Mahomes over Carson Wentz. And that’s being real.”
Are the Chiefs making a mistake playing Mahomes? @ChaseDaniel keeps it real 😳
“They don’t want to see Carson Wentz! The Chiefs will take a 50% Mahomes over Wentz.” pic.twitter.com/WlP8eMWEC6
— The Facility (@TheFacilityFS1) December 20, 2024
It may come off as harsh on backup QBs like himself and Wentz, but Daniel was spot on. Mahomes is what makes this Chiefs team what it is. No one over there wants to think about life without him. But there’s also the playoff seeding to consider here, and Mahomes playing each of K.C.’s final three games will be crucial in that respect.
“They need to win, they have to win these next two games. At home they’re scary. They win these next two games regardless of what the Buffalo Bills do, they get a bye. What happens when you get a bye? You’re resting your squad, and your starter, Week 18 against the Broncos. By my math, if I don’t play from December 25th until January 19th, you get like a month off.”
While the Chiefs showed that they can win on the road in the playoffs, doing so against the Bills and Baltimore Ravens last year, the argument for more rest for Mahomes is hard to discount.
The Chiefs will hope that Mahomes can emerge from the Texans game without issue. The team then goes on the road for the final two games of the campaign. Their penultimate game will be against the Pittsburgh Steelers. If Patrick Mahomes tweaks his ankle on Saturday and has to miss that game—which Netflix bought for a whopping $75 million with the idea that Mahomes would be the main draw—there’s going to be trouble in paradise.
They wrap it all up with a divisional away matchup with the Denver Broncos, who will likely be fighting for their playoff contention. All of those final three matchups are tough. It makes sense that they’d want their go-to guy in there to ensure things run smoothly to close out the regular season.
